Why Fried Chicken Is Battering South Korea's Economy

9/14/2013 12:59AM

Fried chicken is an overdone culinary craze in South Korea. The WSJ’s Kurt Achin warns that consumers can’t keep up with the explosion of shops dedicated to the local version of the Southern delicacy, and that could mean the country is facing a fried chicken bubble.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... I ... the the the ... the the the ... South Koreans they relax at least ... twenty of them say Peter ... and fried chicken ... fried chicken restaurants are relatively easy to store it but they can also be seen as a cautionary tale about shifting South Korean economy ... your soul and his wife worked long hours that their chicken chop and sold ... the restaurant is tiny so most of their business is to live reports ... they opened in two thousand to a golden year for chicken chops with many of them rolled out big screen televisions for fans to watch South Korea and Japan co host soccer's World Cup ... since then though countless other chicken places of opened ... three incomes neighborhood alone when times are getting tough ... today I didn't ... you'll ... never buy any ... if you go and ... they tend to be ... in the entire one ... hundred vehicles a month away ... couple of onto one CD from among the common ... will ... not and ... could give it to to ... to even go ... together ... come and I think that ... on the News White launch their business by borrowing from family and friends ... but others are trading risk your path ... professor Holmes removal is an economist who studies household debt ... ever since the nineties Asian financial crisis he says ... South Koreans have found themselves edged out of the typical corporate workplace ... though the new second up but is very difficult to get on top in September ... you know ... maybe nothing respect that this was an opening new business is an easy one is ... the smaller shops and restaurants ... like a chicken ... chops ... many are doing that with loans from financial institutions using their homes as collateral ... by official estimates between twenty and thirty percent of South Korean household debt ... now goes to subsidize small businesses but skyrocketing competition is forcing many of them out of business posing a potential problem for the broader economy this entertaining family and all those sales staff employed will depress were a peep into ... the high-end incorporates ... and history on the mind ... the bank and non bank finance institutions psalmist ... this may create ... a feminist or disability ... the number of chicken joints here in South Korea has grown to thirty six thousand ... compared to twelve thousand just ten years ago ... the government is clamping down to prevent a fried chicken bubble from exploding for example by setting limits on the number of restaurants that can open the same period